If you go to city council meetings in Rockford, Loves Park and some other communities, you know they begin with a prayer.

Some prayers are bland and utterly forgettable; others are explicit and invoke Jesus Christ to “watch over and guide the proceedings to a good outcome to benefit the people.”

These opening prayers have never caused a stir in the Rockford area. Not all local government meetings begin with prayers. It’s a matter of local custom, as it should be.

But in this day and age, some people have read the First Amendment and discovered a right that isn’t there: the right not to have our feelings hurt by hearing a prayer in a public meeting.

In Greece, New York, a suburb of 94,000 northwest of Rochester, two non-Christian women said they were made uncomfortable by the opening of town board meetings with Christian prayer. So, represented by Americans United for the Separation of Church, they sued the town, arguing that public prayers on government property were unconstitutional.

The case went all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court, which decided Monday in a 5-4 vote in favor of the town. Starting a governmental meeting with a sectarian prayer does not establish a religion, the majority agreed.

(I know what you’re thinking, and you’re wrong. The Obama administration filed a brief in support of the town.)

“I’m very happy to hear of the decision,” said Mayor Darryl Lindberg of Loves Park, where City Council meetings traditionally begin with a prayer that may be led by a priest or minister, or by an alderman, the mayor, the fire chief, the police chief or another city official.

Rockford’s weekly City Council meetings have been opened by a prayer led by a clergy member for 46 years, said the Rev. Ronald Montanye, an Orthodox priest and a volunteer police chaplain. He said the clergy member who is serving as a police chaplain on council days, usually Mondays, leads the evening meeting’s prayer. “We have had all (Christian) denominations over the years,” Montanye said. He said the chaplains had invited a cleric from a different faith tradition to take part, but the man declined.

Justice Anthony Kennedy, writing for the court, said, “The town of Greece does not violate the First Amendment by opening its meetings with prayer that comports with our tradition and does not coerce participation by nonadherents. ... By inviting ministers to serve as chaplain for the month ... the town is acknowledging the central place that religion and religious institutions hold in the lives of those present.”

Page 2 of 2 - If some people feel excluded and disrespected, Kennedy said, they should ignore the prayers: “Adults often encounter speech they find disagreeable.” Kennedy and the other four justices in the majority are Catholic.

Justice Elena Kagan dissented. Kagan, one of three justices who are Jewish (dissenting Justice Sonia Sotomayor is Catholic), decried the Christian nature of the town’s prayers, saying, “Month in and month out for over a decade, prayers steeped in only one faith, addressed toward members of the public, commenced meetings to discuss local affairs and distribute government benefits. In my view, that practice does not square with the First Amendment’s promise that every citizen, irrespective of her religion, owns an equal share in her government.”

I agree with Justice Kennedy. The founders of our republic saw to it that we have freedom of religion, but not freedom from religion. The solution to speech you don’t like is not censorship. It’s more speech.

Clergy from other religions are free to step up and add their voices in the opening of public meetings where prayers are said.

RADIO UPDATE: The familiar dulcet tones of Rockford radio voice Doug McDuff will soon be back on the air. McDuff is one of the radio personalities who lost their jobs earlier this spring when their station ended its talk format.

On Monday, McDuff will begin hosting a talk show on WTJK-1380 AM in Janesville, Wisconsin. Because the station’s tower is near the state line, Rockford area listeners should be able to hear McDuff just fine.

The two-hour show will be broadcast Mondays through Fridays, but the time of day hasn’t been set yet. Stay tuned.